


The Bet

by ellbie



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Another Post-EoT where the Doctor didn't regenerate and the Master is traveling with him, Is this a crackfic? I think it's a crackfic., M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellbie/pseuds/ellbie
Summary: The Doctor had turned up his nose when the Master suggested they come here.Of all the places we could go,he’d whined. But now the Master looked at the surrounding chaos like a king surveying his dominion, and he let out a contented sigh.In which the Master convinces the Doctor to take him to a nightclub. They don't stay long.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/The Master (Simm)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	The Bet

There was an honest moment where the Master wasn’t sure if they were hearing music anymore or simply being shot at by air cannons. The beat throbbed through their bones, vibrations buffeting hard against them as they made their way through the writhing hordes of aliens crowded into the dark hall ahead. With the way the lights strobed, the Master was only able to see the mob in intermittent snapshots of flying hands and sweaty faces. The bodies appeared to stretch for miles.

The Doctor had turned up his nose when the Master suggested they come here.  _ Of all the places we could go, _ he’d whined. But now the Master looked at the surrounding chaos like a king surveying his dominion, and he let out a contented sigh. 

Sure, an artificial planet constructed for the sole purpose of hosting a massive night club seemed gaudy, but the man had his reasons. Not only did the drum beat in his head dissolve away as soon as the booming vibrations filled his skull, but the sheer volume contained in this place also conveniently swallowed up all the inane tangents that pachinkoed through the Doctor’s brain before tumbling out of his mouth. The Master could smile and nod and let the Doctor talk and talk and talk, and he wouldn’t hear a thing besides the pulsing beat of music and stomping feet. He eyed the thunderous reverie hungrily now, excited to finally have a bit of peace. Plus, in the middle of the convulsing fray of dancers was a bar serving up about 800,000 different cocktails from three neighboring galaxies, and he hadn’t gotten properly pissed since the last time he came back to life.

The Master eyed a woman walking by with a frosted glass full of something neon blue and fizzing, and she flashed them both a smile. The Doctor was too busy frowning at everything to notice.

“Why don’t you grab me a drink,” the Master said, laying a hand on the Doctor’s arm as he watched the woman push her way back onto the dance floor. He made sure she didn’t send any inviting glances over her shoulder before he nudged the Doctor towards the bar.

The other Time Lord sighed when he saw the size of the crowd vying for the bartender’s attention. “I won’t be able to find you again if we get separated,” he said, raising his voice to clear the blaring speakers.

The Master pointed at a high top table, vacant save for an abandoned, nearly-empty drink. “I’ll be right over there. Ta.” And he prowled away, turning back only to scowl at anyone that looked like they were pressing too close to the Doctor. 

The man was tall enough that the Master was still able to point out his messy swoop of hair slicing through the packed groups of aliens that swayed with the music long after he’d been sucked into the crowd. Satisfied that the Doctor wasn’t going to be swept onto the dance floor by some interloper, the Master closed his eyes and let the rest of his senses absorb their surroundings. His nose twitched at the smell of a thousand different alien species jammed into the dark, throbbing space. There was a group of Holphors to his right, a Menoptera passing on his left (confirmed when its wing clipped his shoulder), and, surprisingly, even a…

“Hello.”

His eyes snapped open to find the owner of the blue fizzy drink from before standing in front of him. The light show had evolved from the harsh strobing effect, and now neon colors bathed over them on a wash of vapor from a fog machine.

He drew in his chin and let the corner of his mouth twitch up in a smirk. “That spot’s taken.”

“That’s fine,” she said, knocking the abandoned drink to the floor and setting her glass in its place. The cup and spilled bits of ice were quickly crushed underfoot by the passing partygoers. “I hadn’t decided if I wanted to sit with you yet.”

He barked out a laugh at that. “What? Still weighing your options?” With one eyebrow raised, he gave a quick jerk of his chin, motioning for her to sod off. 

Instead of moving away, she pulled her lips back to show a row of gleaming teeth as she laughed, and in the moment’s pause, he felt a strange pull at the edge of his memory, an irritating tug of presque vu, like he was supposed to know her. Or that he did know her, and he’d forgotten. He felt something cold in his gut.

“You’re just as awful as ever,” she said, pulling him from his thoughts, but before he could retort, she confirmed his suspicions with an airily added: “ _ Master _ .”

His eyes narrowed, flicking suspiciously over the plaits of dark brown hair that curved around the crown of her head and spilled over bare shoulders before focusing back on the gaze that met his so easily. The whole time, his brain screamed at him that not only did he know or should know or  _ would _ know this woman, but that she was a threat.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I thought you loved humans,” she said with a sarcastic pout. “Wait, no. That’s wrong. It’s your  _ boyfriend _ over there that loves humans.”

He was in her face in a second, breaching the quaint little barrier of confidence she's built around herself so forcefully that she flinched away. “You have five seconds to tell me who you are,” he hissed, “or I start digging through your memories.” He thought that was rather generous, considering he could rip through her mind like it was paper whether she wanted him to or not. Maybe he’d been spending too much time with the Doctor after all.

The flash of unease vanished from her face, replaced by that same, sultry smile, and she sipped her drink with an unnerving twinkle in her eye. Resting both elbows on the table, she leaned forward to meet him at middle distance, her nose barely an inch from his. “That could be interesting,” she said, letting her eyes glance playfully from side to side. “Place as crowded as this though, you wouldn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to yourself.” She leaned further in, face angling to the side at the last minute so that her lips just barely grazed his ear. “Do you really think you can exercise that much restraint?”

The way she clicked her teeth on the “t”, like the threat of a bite so close to his skin, made a noise crawl out of his throat. Her cheek was warm next to his, radiating all the flash-fire heat of a human metabolism, and all he could do was blink in astonishment.

Then she pulled back and grinned at him once more before turning her attention to the dance floor. His eyes roved over her as she perched her elbow on the table, long fingers turning her glass in her hand between sips as she pointedly ignored him. He blinked again, at a total loss.

Despite having had a handful of human companions over his lives, he never considered them to be anything more than tools to be used briefly and discarded promptly, while the Doctor delighted in finding the most obnoxious, impossible, disobedient members of the species to drag around for years on his little adventures. The Master had never understood the point of having pets that refused to be trained. But something about this woman made his breath hitch even as he squirmed in his seat. And though he couldn’t hear the drumbeat in his head over the music, he could feel the rhythm in his chest as his hearts slammed away like his body was gearing up to flee or fight or...

“His highness’s drink.” 

The Master startled and jerked around to see the Doctor suddenly looming over him with a withering look. He reached up to take the drink — a slush of boozy, lavender ice — from the Doctor's outstretched hand and held his breath as the man noticed the stranger leaning against the other side of the table for the first time. She was watching him out of the corner of her eye, a perfect picture of coy, complete with a demure little smile.

“Hello,” he said, grinning and reaching his hand out to her. “I’m the Doctor.”

Her eyes crinkled as she took his hand in hers, and the Master noticed as soon as their skin touched, a look passed over the Doctor’s face, a gentle furrowing of his brow, but the woman just giggled and shook his hand.

So the Doctor had no idea who she was either.

“I was just having a lovely conversation with your friend here,” she said, and the Master was suddenly aware of how she’d dropped both elbows to the table again so she could look up at the Time Lords through her lashes, chin perched delicately on her curled fist.

_ Oh no. _

The Doctor stuttered something incoherent, and when the Master side-eyed him, he saw a scarlet flush creeping up his neck.

“So what brings you two gents to a place like this?” She even tipped her head to the side like a puppy.

_ For fuck’s sake. _

The Master grabbed the Doctor’s forearm so suddenly that both he and the strange woman jumped. “We’re leaving.” He spun the protesting Doctor around and placed a hand firmly against his back to shove him forward. As he guided the Doctor away from the shameless human, he turned around and flashed her a look. “Just the  _ two _ of us.”

She scowled, and he waited until she slammed her drink down and stomped away before he resumed pushing the Doctor toward the exit.

“B-but... wait! ” He planted his feet and slapped at the Master’s hands until he released his grip. “I didn’t catch her name!” 

Incorrigible as ever.

“Unfortunately, I have a feeling we’ll find out soon.” He gave the Doctor another shove and they continued moving through the crowds, twisting and weaving to avoid the current of bodies as they made their way back to TARDIS.

* * *

Yasmin Khan was less forgiving as she forced her way to the other section of the club. She shouldered people out of her path without stopping, powered forward by barely concealed frustration, pausing only to glance at the bar before deciding she wasn’t patient enough to wait in line for another drink and resuming her unyielding push through dancers.

The Master’s grin shone like a beacon in the dim light in the far corner of the club, and she glowered when he patted the seat next to him. It was hard to tell that he was over a thousand years older in this body when he acted like such an obnoxious brat.

She collapsed into the chair, slid forty quid across the table to him, and crossed her arms with a huff, refusing to look at his annoying, toothy smile. “So you were this much of a twat in every regeneration, then?”

The Master laughed. “My regenerations were nothing. You should’ve seen me in my stolen bodies.” Before Yaz could respond, the Master swiped the money off the table and shoved it in his pocket. “You were so close, too.”

“Sod off.”

“No, I’m serious. I really looked like I was going to take you up on the offer.”

“If you weren’t such a jealous git, you would have,” Yaz snapped. She cast a moody look at the press of bodies glowing under blacklights. “I mean, the old Prime Minister? Really?”

The Master cackled. “You said, and I quote, ‘ _ I could bag any regeneration of you or the Doctor hands down. _ ’”

“OK, yes, but we were all hammered when I said that. And I didn’t mean both of you  _ at the same time. _ ”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules.”

“You did make that rule! This whole bet was your idea!”

“Well, you know what they say,” the Master said, his laughter calming to intermittent chuckles.

Yaz glared at him. “What?”

“Lucky in dice, unlucky in…” 

But she smacked him on the arm before he could finish.


End file.
